A Hassle-Free Tip For Better Homemade Steak Sauce

Cooking a steak to perfection is truly an art. Even once you've mastered how to achieve an aesthetic sear and are confident grilling steak to any level of doneness, there's always room for improvement. But beyond grilling technique, it's vital to infuse flavor to those steaks once they're done. When whipping up a steak sauce from scratch — a little forethought and patience will make the condiment leaps and bounds tastier.

There is no singular way to make a steak sauce; perhaps the only commonality in terms of ingredients is that recipes tend to have an acidic tang (often thanks to vinegar or citrus) to add a layer of complexity and cut through the meat's richness. But in terms of technique, no matter the recipe, sauces need to sit. This is because as your homemade condiment rests, all the different flavor components can meld together more fully, which creates a more harmonious and balanced outcome. While there's no limit as to how long sauce can be left to rest, a minimum of 30 minutes before serving is always recommended. Of course, allocating an hour or two longer doesn't hurt. 

There's nothing to stop you from getting really creative with steak sauce, but sometimes less is more. Given that any sauce will benefit from resting, following recipes with three ingredients or fewer is a great way to keep things simple but still delicious.

To work smarter, not harder, look first to the bold and flavorful condiments kicking around in your fridge. For creamy and mildly punchy steak sauces, think about mixing together Dijon mustard with crème frâiche or even blue cheese with sour cream. Alternatively, you could also mix up an easy sauce with butter and balsamic for a delicately sweet and decadent topping. Or, for a fresher final touch on top of a steak, combine olive oil and a handful of chopped, leafy herbs for an impromptu chimichurri. 

You can also make any basic sauce more interesting by whisking in a dash of hot sauce, a sprinkle of paprika, or a the zest of an orange. But no matter what ingredients you combine, allowing time to work its magic, letting everything rest and meld together, will allow even the simplest of steak sauces to shine. Not to mention that with all the extra time saved during sauce-making (and time spent letting sauce rest), you can focus on crafting other side dishes — or just making sure that you grill your steak to the best of your abilities.